Speaking of Star Trek

Star Trek Online new gameplay trailer

Trek Movie Goodies

Since the DVD/Blueray Star Trek releases in less than 2 weeks, if you haven't already ordered a copy, you might want to know who has the extra goodies when you buy/rent your copy.

I'm So Buying This for Everyone I Know for Christmas

Uranium Ore

Isn't the internet awesome?
Read the comments. They're the best.

The Little Black Hole Engine That Could

Louis Crane & Shawn Westmoreland have put together a theory about using black holes to power starships.

The first couple of sections are really interesting reading, discussing various proposals to power starships and which are practicle and why.

One thing on their discussion of anti-matter: I thought it would only destroy exactly as much matter as there was anti-matter. Why then are we talking about large scale destruction? Did I miss something?

I'll Take Two

Bikini Leia and her stunt double nap in the Tatooine sunshine

via Scifiwire

Muppets Away!

Interactive graphic of 101 Muppets

Next time you get into a brutal game of Muppet Trivial Pursuit, you'll thank me.

Heinekin? F%&k That S#@t! Pabst Blue Ribbon

Pabst up for sale again

Think Dennis Hopper would go in halves with me?

Bioware: The Next Blizzard

I've loved Bioware games for years. Probably the first game from Bioware I played was the venerable Ice Wind Dale. Awesome D&D title. I played the sequal, and then Neverwinter Nights came out. That game, and the fantastic little community that spawned around it, kept me entertained literally for 3 years. I once even worked with Money on coding our own server. Fantastic game. Admittedly, the sequal wasn't that great, but it wasn't bad either.

How about Knights of the Old Republic series? Those games were so amazing, I replayed them both several times (as did the Mrs.).

Now Bioware's latest title is Dragon Age. I remember them talking about this when I was into Neverwinter Nights. They've been working on this title forever (almost as long as Duke Nukem Forever). But unlike other vaporware, they released it, and from the reviews I've been reading, it was worth the wait.

Joystiq's review

Kokugamer's review

Blizzard's always been a great gaming company, cranking out some memorable and well-made games. Bioware's ready to jump up on center stage with them, I believe, especially with Dragon Age and the new MMORPG Knights of the Old Republic. Warcraft killer? Probably not, but I'm willing to bet it will be big.

That's Pretty Freakin' Cool

Remote controlled van, via an iPhone.

Top 10 Mad Scientist-Worthy Experiments

via Neatorama

I plan on doing numbers 3 and 4 with the kids this weekend while the wife is out. :D

Don't Fear the Penguins...But the Koala is a Different Story

Some Early Adopters Stung By Ubuntu's Karmic Koala via /.

"Ubuntu 9.10 is causing outrage and frustration, with early adopters wishing
they'd stuck with previous versions of the Linux distro. Blank and flickering
screens, failure to recognize hard drives, defaulting to the old 2.6.28 Linux
kernel, and failure to get encryption running are taking their toll, as early
adopters turn to the web for answers and log fresh bug reports in Ubuntu
forums."

Glad I decided to wait. Every release seems to be buggy. Best to let them sort it out first.

Because Everything Must Be About the Annointed One

'V' aims at Obamamania

Does that mean he's really an alien lizard in disguise come to eat humanity?

What if Eminem was a Klingon?

Wants Me Some Green Laser Lovin'

Green Laser from Crimson Trace

Gonna have to see if they have one for my Glock....

Only on Facebook

Awesome Halloween Costume

I know it's a bit late for this, but this was so cool, I just had to link it.

Low-res girl

Freakin' Pig-Sty

I haven't been to Atlanta in years, but when I lived there, it was a fairly clean city.

How bad must it be now to lose to Las Vegas of all places? The last time I was in Vegas, there was crap all over the streets (flyers for hookers/strippers, empty bottles, and just general trash, etc.).

I have to say, the cleanest city I ever visited was San Fransisco. I'm not big on California, but man, I loved visiting SF.

Doom-ed

The game that almost made me late to my own wedding has been ported to the iPhone.

Kick a$$.

Ma Bell: Still Sucking After All These Years

AT&T is suing Verizon because of some maps.

I had an iPhone. Yep, the coverage really does suck.

I Beg Your Pardon?

Esquire magazine has an article on what President Obama's done since entering office. They contend, contrary to popular opinion, that he's been very effective.

Let's take a look at that:

A week before he was sworn in, Obama jammed part two of the bank bailout down
the throat of his own party — a $350 billion accomplishment.

Hmmm, I dont' think I would say he "jammed" anything down their throats. This was Bush's bailout, plain and simple.

Two days after he was sworn in, Obama banned the use of "harsh interrogation"
and ordered the closing of Guantánamo.

Unless I'm terribly mistaken, aren't there still prisoner's at Club Gitmo?

A day later, Obama reversed George W. Bush's funding cutoff to overseas family
planning organizations — saving millions of lives with the stroke of a pen.

Wow, he really is just like Superman and Jesus rolled into one. Oh, and he's not afraid of ninjas, I hear. Um, what? He decided to spend more money, what's so surprising about that?

Three days after that, Obama gave a green light to the California car-emissions
standards that Bush had been blocking for six years — an important step on the
road to cleaner air and a cooler planet.

OK, the whole cooler planet thing is debatable, but I'll grant California's skies could be cleaner. Still, to force the state that's robbing its citizens in order to pay its bills (excuse me, borrowing from its citizens), into spending more money for emissions is just idiotic.

Two weeks after that, Obama signed the stimulus bill — a $787 billion
accomplishment.

Yep, let's all spend more money on companies that will likely go under anyway. It was a dumb idea when Bush started it.

Ten days after that, Obama formally announced America's withdrawal from Iraq.

Aren't we still in Iraq?

A week later — we're in early March now — Obama erased Bush's decision to
restrict federal funding for stem-cell research.

OK, I'm ok with stem-cell research. Just not the way the Dems want to do it.

In April and June, Obama forced Chrysler and GM into bankruptcy.

Well, we see how well that's worked out. I heard a report yesterday that said the American public would never see that money again.

In June, Obama reset the tone of our relations with the entire Arab world with a
single speech — an accomplishment that the Bush administration failed to achieve
despite a series of desperate PR moves (anyone remember Charlotte Beers?) and a
"public diplomacy" budget of $1 billion a year.

Yeah, he sent Hillary to really piss off the Palestenians. They set relations back 10 years.

Also in June, Obama unveiled the "Cash for Clunkers" program, a "socialist"
giveaway that reanimated the corpse of our car industry — leading, for example,
to the billion-dollar profit that Ford announced on Monday.

Yep, dealers were able to dump a ton of cars that they had over-produced anyway at taxpayer expense. I sure call that a win.

I haven't even mentioned Sonia Sotomayor, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the
order to release the torture memos, Obama's push for charter schools, his $288
billion tax cut, or the end of Bush's war on medical marijuana. Or the minor
fact that he seems to have — with Bush's help, it must be said — stopped the
financial collapse, revived the credit markets, and nudged the economy toward
3.5 percent growth in the last quarter.

Sotomayor? Wasn't she that racist? I don't know about that act, so I wont' say anything. Yeah, that end of the war against medical marijuana has gone well. Didn't California just do a major bust on a supplier this week? Stopped the financial collapse? 150,000 more people lost their jobs last month! For Christ' sake, the unemployment figure the government releases is at 9.9%! I don't care if they say the economy is growing. It's a lie. Just like the cake.

Oh, and one more thing: President Obama is now a month or two from accomplishing
the awesome and seemingly impossible task that eluded mighty presidents like
FDR, LBJ, and WJC — health-care reform.

*cough*Bulls%&t!*cough* I don't think so, sparky.

Obama's early returns also include a host of remarkably cautious and prudent
national-security decisions that seem, these days, to have been completely
forgotten:

Appointing a conservative Bush holdover like Robert Gates as Secretary of
Defense.

Like he had anyone else qualified?

Appointing an establishment centrist like Leon Panetta at CIA.

Centrist? Whatever.

Appointing a hard-ass like Stanley McChrystal to head up our military forces in
Afghanistan, despite McChrystal's dubious involvement in torture and the
cover-up of Pat Tillman's death.

OK, so, we'll put someone under suspicion in charge of our forces. Great plan! You can't tell me there wasn't anyone more qualified? Puh-lease.

Increasing the number of drone attacks on Al Qaeda — more in the last year than
all the Bush years combined.

Um, ok. How do they know it's Al Qaeda? From the information in the European/Middle-Eastern sources, it's been against anything that moved. I'm not certain this is absolutely accurate. But then again, I'm not certain any of this is, sooooo.......

Reinstating, with tweaks, Bush's military tribunal system for Guantánamo
prisoners.

I thought you said he closed that place?

Fighting, in another unexpected defense of a controversial Bush policy, lawsuits
against the "warrantless wiretapping" program — as recently as this weekend with
a decision that a leading civil liberties group called "extremely
disappointing."

That's because he likes this one. National security and all that. And you're proud of this?

Sending, way back in February, seventeen thousand more soldiers to Afghanistan.
As Fareed Zakaira recently pointed out, this was just three thousand fewer
soldiers than Bush sent to Iraq for his famous "surge."

Um, ok. I'm pretty sure that was already planned before he came to office, but whatever.

Well, at least we now know where all the "medical" marijuana's been going.

Think Tech Isn't a Big Deal?

Mossad Hacked Syrian Official’s Computer Before Bombing Mysterious Facility

The official reportedly left his computer in his hotel room when he went
out, making it easy for agents to install the malware that siphoned files from
the laptop. The files contained construction plans for the Al Kabir complex in
eastern Syria — said to be an illicit nuclear facility — as well as letters and
hundreds of detailed photos showing the complex at various stages of
construction.

Obviously this type of thing has been happening even since computers have been around, but it's still cool to hear about.

Android, it seemed, would kill the iPhone, monster Windows Mobile, cure cancer and bring your ancestors back from the dead.

At least it's not walking on water -- yet.

via Techradar

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

In a tip of the hat to my buddy, Money, here's another story for you about the military designing drones. In this particular case, it's eerily reminiscent of the squid drones in the Matrix movies.

Military Links Drones into Unmanned Squadrons from FoxNews

One for the Road

via Kontraband

Heh, the 90's in One Picture

People Will Bitch About Anything

Wal-Mart slashing prices on toys for Christmas

And people are crying about it.

Read the stupidity and weep.

Noticing a Trend Here....

No, I did NOT wake up this afternoon and decide I was going to bash Apple.

Sometimes things just work out that way.

I'll resume bashing Microsoft later.

Developing Apps

You know, working at night, I have a TON of time to think s%*# up.

I was driving home the other night (morning?) and thought of a great idea for an iPhone app.

So, when I get up later in the afternoon, I go to Apple's site to see about downloading the dev kit to start developing my app. It shouldn't have come as a surprise to me that it was just not going to happen.

You see, you have to run OSX before you can use the developer kit. Well, son of a biscuit eater!

It would make sense if Apple would produce a dev kit that would work on other platforms, but nooooooooo!

Well, I hope Android eats your lunch, Apple. I know I'm going to work on developing apps for it. And I guarantee that when I'm in a position to recommend to someone what phones our department should use, it sure as hell won't be the iPhone.

Speaking of which, Brandweek looks at Android and iPhone apps development.

Adobe to Apple: $#%@ You!

If you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, you know it's frustrating to try to view or visit a website that uses Flash. Just not gonna work there, Sparky.

Seems Adobe has a thing or two to say about it.

*Sigh* Another Year Gone

Another Halloween gone.

This year's was a real disappointment, too. First, my wife and kids went to a cookout down the street. Or rather, I should say my wife and girls. My son decided he would rather stay home and play video games. So I had to stay home, too. Then when Mrs. MadMan returned, one of the girls went trick-or-treating with one of the neighbor's kids and her dad (instead of me).

I was very upset, obviously. I wanted the family to actually spend some time together.

My middle child took pity on me and let me trick-or-treat with her around the neighborhood before she and the wife left to go to another friend's house and trick-or-treat in their neighborhood.

And to top it off, it started raining so I only had 12 kids drop by all night.

All-in-all, it was not a very good Halloween.

Here's hoping for next year.

A Few Boogeymen for Your Halloween Goodness

Cracked.com is made of win and bacon and other good things.

7 Horrific Boogeymen Used to Scare Kids Around The World

Edit: Bonus material!

7 Sex Tips from Cosmo That Will Put You in the Hospital

I'm still crying over #1. Waaaaay more horrifying than any monster. Way.

The New Power Suit

Put on your Blue jeans.

Who knew? I've been in style for years. :D

Seriously, I'm not certain about wearing this to a job interview, for instance. Depending on the dress code at an office, I suppose it would be fine. In my last job, I frequently wore a button-up shirt, sports coat, and jeans. I don't usually do the dress shoes thing though. I wear cowboy boots. Go figure.

Looks Like Hillary Can Go Back To China!

China: Ban on Pork Imports From U.S. Is to Be Lifted

Sorry. Couldn't help myself.

News Flash: Microsoft Screws the Pooch Again

You'd think after umpteen generations of Windows roll-outs, they'd get it right. Especially considering the drubbing they got due to Vista, they'd be on their toes and really do the roll-out for 7 right.

If you thought that, you thought wrong.

Halloween Goodies

From Templates.com's blog

Hey Ho for Halloween! Incredible Holiday Illustrations.

50 Interesting Science Facts

via India News

My favorite:

22. It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up. The frog
throws up it's stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of it's mouth. Then
the frog uses its forearms to dig out all of the stomach's contents and then
swallows the stomach back down again.

That is made of awesome.

Wouldn't That Be More Like Wolfing Out?

I don't know about you, but this doesn't look as much like an ad for building muscle as much as it does an ad for turning you into a werewolf.

Which, admittedly, would be cool.

Note to Self

...stay the hell out of the water if ever visiting Australia.

Great white shark mauled by greater white shark

Read the Signs

14 Lessons Signs Taught Guys About Getting Married

High Comedy?

A Day in the Life of an ATF agent via the LA Times.

My favorite quote: "Police work, it seemed, was harder than it looked."

All-in-all, it probably did that reporter some good.

Yeah, I Like Mine on Ice Too

Shackleton's Scotch Preserved in Antarctic Ice for 100 Years

dailymail.co.uk — They say whisky matures with age... but leaving it embedded in
the Antarctic ice for 100 years may be going a bit far. Two cases of MacKinlay's
Rare Old Whisky that Ernest Shackleton's team abandoned on their failed 1908
expedition to the South Pole have been uncovered intact and unopened.

Wouldn't you love to get ahold of one of those bottles?

Shameless Pandering

I'm keen to see about this new Motorola Droid Verizon is rolling out.

Say, if you guys want to send me one, I won't say no. I'll probably even write about it. :-)

Coconuts: The Key Ingredient to Thermonuclear Power

Of Coconut Futures and Thermonuclear Fusion Power from H+ magazine.

The Professor and Gilligan could've told you that...

Holy Crap, Batman!

One of my biggest beefs with buying computers is all the crap that's stuffed on the hard drive before you ever open the box. I've screamed for years about the effects of this stuff and have turned people off certain brands because of it. Heck, I've even devoted a chapter in the book I'm writing to removing it.

PC Pro has a nice article about crapware on some major label laptops, it's effects, and what you can do about it.

Nice to see someone else give a hoot. (although, I am forced to add that their website is an ad-saturated hell)

Bwahahaha! Nice Benefits.

It's a shame more companies don't offer benefits like this...

This is for My Kids

10 Facts about Spongebob you probably didn't know.

I know I sure didn't.

Darling it's better down where it's wetter, take it from me!

Now that's a pretty cool Halloween pumpkin.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Betsy-Shober/1083242637

Simply Because It Kicks Butt!

Free Monster Truck Coloring pages!

I'm grabbing my crayons as we speak....

Edit: I won't mention what I was looking for when I found this.

That'll Help

As an IT guy, many times have I experienced the heartbreak of user's whose e-mail has crashed and .PST has decided to go belly-up.

Frequently you can repair and get their e-mail back, but I've faced several occasions where this was just not possible.

Now there may be hope.

Microsoft is going to open up Outlook's .PST format under their Open Specification Promise. That's not only good news for developers, but it'll be great news for IT support people. I imagine there will be all sorts of new tools for going in and hacking .PST files in the near future.